Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre Calls the Shots with Clear-Com

Staff members at the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavik, Iceland, rely on Clear-Com®’s Eclipse®digital matrix system and FreeSpeak® wireless intercom to help coordinate their avant-garde productions, which involve famous musicians and cultural icons. Installed by Exton, a full-service sales and rental company, the Clear-Com intercoms ensure reliable interconnection among highly productive and collaborative staff members and offer flexibility for adapting to shifting production needs.

Clear-Com’s intercom systems enabled the production team to communicate across multiple spaces within the brand new Harpa facility, including one main concert hall and three additional multipurpose rooms, which are reserved for musical events, international conferences, conventions and meetings. A 48-port Eclipse-Median digital matrix was seamlessly integrated with 22 FreeSpeak digital wireless beltpacks, allowing the staff to communicate and collaborate effectively in the ticket sales area, backstage and throughout the other production spaces. With Clear-Com, the production team can reach the point of contact easily and directly to accelerate decision making. Moreover, the powerful and reliable intercom platform is both flexible for Harpa’s constantly changing production needs and expandable to accommodate future growth.

“The Clear-Com Eclipse-Matrix and FreeSpeak systems give us so much flexibility to pull off the complex and elaborate events that we produce,” says Gunnar Gunnarson, Project Manager for Exton. “We can easily change key assignments, reroute audio and adjust the number of beltpacks according to each production’s requirements. Also a plus is the reliable connection offered by the FreeSpeak wireless system, which enables a user to walk from one hall to another without losing connection. Because it uses DECT technology, FreeSpeak continuously scans, selects and connects with the best antenna to give us uninterrupted communications.”

Recently, Harpa’s Eclipse was utilized for the live broadcast of Icelandic Eurovision Song Contest. The winner chosen from that competition went on to represent Iceland as a contestant in International Eurovision Contest. For this production, Harpa’s Eclipse was connected to National Television’s OB van, which also utilized a Clear-Com Eclipse system.

“Live performance venues around the world, such as the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre, depend on Clear-Com because our intercom solutions are designed to meet production requirements with complex communications needs,” says Karlie Miles, Director of Sales for EMEA and South Asia Pacific, Clear-Com. “We’re very pleased to provide Harpa with systems that enable them to successfully coordinate each concert and performance with maximum cooperation, which results in productions of great excellence.”